What happens when you get out of sequence is that you don't review books in the right order. Previously I wrote on volume 2, and this is the initial volume in what portends to be a long series of books on the Ju-88.

In this initial volume, we look at the background requirements that lead up to the Ju-88. What was initially requested was a fast bomber and so both Junkers, (which had been taken over by the government because Hugo Junkers had been described as a pacifist, democrat, and involved in organizations that were considered Jewish, liberal, and even crypto-Bolshevist, so was quickly removed) and by Messerschmitt, who had the ear of Goering. Messerschmitt provided the Bf-162, but it just did not meet the specs. The Ju-88, however, did, or at least came a lot closer.

Thus the Junkers plane was chosen for production. The prototypes went through quite a few changes in terms of engines, undercarriage and forward fuselage. The design was also tweaked so much by modifications that it was hard to get the plane actually built and out to operational units. Eventually the Ju-88A-1 entered service and while it was no longer simply a fast bomber (dive bombing requirements were also added along with the weight of the modifications), it was a plane that was much appreciated by the pilots who flew it. It was fast, maneuvered well and as combat would eventually prove, was able to take quite a bit of damage and bring its crew home.

One of the big pluses of writing about Junkers produces is that, unlike most other concerns, Junkers did not do a mass destruction of its archives at the end of WWII. This is a real book for historians and book writers as there are tens of thousands of photographs available. This book uses a lot of them, mostly ones that look at the early prototypes and a ton of them that show the Ju-88A-1 under production. Yes, this is a book that concentrates solely on the first production version, just as the second concentrates on its combat operations.

In line with that book, half of it is history and photos and stats, while the second half is all '3D drawings' of parts of the plane. Frankly, I think the 3D bit is a bit much. I'm not sure we need 18 pages of views of the MG 15, and its installation, or a dozen pages that look at the cockpit canopy and nose frames or an equally large number of pages that feature the lower gondola. To me, this simply seems like a way to spread out the monographs over as many volumes as possible. Not to say that these are a waste, just that I think it is over-done and would rather have had a dozen of those pages dedicated to color profiles. Perhaps future volumes will oblige.

Ju-88istas will, of course, not care about this as for a true believer, there is never enough, and it is all quite well done. Those who are infatuated with the aircraft will want this one on their shelves as it is a super reference for fans and modelers alike.